We Stand with the Baltimore Rebellion -- BAYAN USAArrest of Freddie Gray’s Murderers, Homicide Ruling Proves Power of Protest

Bayan USA stands with the family of Freddie Gray and the people of Baltimore who courageously took to the streets to resist racist police repression and state fascism in the aftermath of Freddie Gray’s murder in police custody. We welcome and recognize the arrest and charges of homicide against the six police officers involved as an initial step towards justice, but we remain vigilant and must ensure full prosecution and conviction follow. The indictments of these officers are primarily the result of the continuous surge in people’s resistance to racist police terror that reached a new peak last year with the uprising in Ferguson, MO.

People’s resistance to white supremacy and police terror is nothing new. What is unfolding in Baltimore and in other urban pockets across the US is a continuation of the legacy of struggle against African slavery that gave way to state brutality and systemic repression of Black people in the US. It is a centuries-old struggle that is righteous and dignified.

It was the brutal enslavement of Africans that provided the vast accumulation of capital needed for US monopoly capitalism- or US imperialism- which has since expanded globally through wars of aggression, counter-insurgency, militarism, and neoliberalism. Alongside Black and Brown people in the US, peoples struggling internationally against imperialist aggression know that racism, fascism, and state repression are endemic to US empire.

As people of a US neocolony, Filipinos understand that our liberation from US imperialism is inextricably linked to the liberation of Black people in the US. We reiterate our stand for Black liberation through Black self-determination, which includes the right to self-defense.

In the words of MLK Jr-- Until all of us are free, none of us are free. We call on our membership, allies, and supporters to stand with the continuing struggle for Black self-determination and against white supremacy and imperialist state terror.

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 18 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of thePhilippines and as a center for educating, organizing, and mobilizing anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org